The Blood of Olympus
by MiracleCloudsTasteLikeBeef
Summary: All the Giants are back and alive and Gaea is the closest she has ever been to awakening. To defeat Gaea, the Seven must divide; Leo must rebuild the Argo II with Festus, Frank and Hazel are to find an Oracle, Percy and Annabeth must summon the Sky, and Piper and Jason must perform the Twelve Labours of Hercules. Will Nico, Reyna and Coach get to Camp Half-Blood quick enough? Read!
1. I: Percy

HELLO! This is my new PJO HOH FanFiction about how I think the Blood of Olympus will play out. My predictions will (probably) not be correct, but it's fun to be the Oracle sometimes. All of Uncle Rick's original characters belong to him, the other mythological characters are not. I will not add many important OC's anyway. The plot belongs to me though.

(Longer) Summary: All the giants are back from Tartarus again, all following out devious plans issued by their monstrous mother, Gaea, who will soon be awakened. To stop the evil Earth Mother from rising again from the ashes of the destroyed world, the Seven of the Prophecy must divide to win: Leo is left alone in Italy to repair the Argo II, along with the help of a mysterious person who should have died. Percy and Annabeth must find and convince the Sky, the only one powerful enough to defy Gaea, to work with them to defeat the giants. Jason and Piper must discover where Percy's old friend is, and the only person who knows sets upon twelve tasks upon the two if they are to get the information. Hazel and Frank journey to Delphi in Greece to find an Oracle and discover the meaning of another prophecy set upon them. And Nico, Reyna, Coach Hedge and the Athena Parthenos must arrive at Camp Half-Blood and reunite both Greek and Roman camps, which might ultimately end the gods' schizophrenic act. Will any of them beat the clock and defeat Gaea - or will they fail?

* * *

I

PERCY

**It was about the time** all Hades broke loose that Percy realised they wouldn't get to Athens in time to stop Gaea.

Percy had been comfortably tucked in bed with Annabeth – Coach Hedge wasn't there to stop them from their nightly escapades – both clothed with warm PJs and reading an odd architecture book that Percy didn't understand, when he felt the entire cabin lurch to one side.

Percy tumbled onto the floor, and Annabeth tumbled onto Percy and all the blankets, sheets and pillows fell onto the two of them, muffling Percy's voice and blinding his eyesight in a blur of blonde, flowing hair and white sheets.

He heard the bookshelf in the room fall onto the floor with a THUNK, and the books and everything on it rolling on the floor and being scattered.

Trying in vain to untangle him and Annabeth from the flurry of white sheets, he heard the door slide open quickly, and Jason's hurried, nervous voice chatter loudly:

"Something's happening outside – _oh_." Percy rolled himself off Annabeth and glanced at the before praetor. He was staring in shock at Percy and Annabeth. Normally, he was as stoic as a stone and as intimidating as an eagle. His blonde, shiny hair was once in a Roman-cut hairstyle, but now, from weeks on the _Argo II_ without any haircuts of any kind, it was shaggier and longer. Percy had often been compared to Jason, but Percy saw no similarities other than their uncanny, strange leadership skills. Still, Annabeth was, to general agreement, the captain of the _Argo II_. "Erm, is this a bad time…?"

Jason's question wandered off, and Percy almost blushed. "It's fine. We'll be on the deck in a moment. I'll just help Annabeth up."

Looking back furtively, Jason left the room hurriedly. The room lurched again, and Percy was vaguely aware that almost everything in the room was upturned, fallen or broken.

Percy helped Annabeth up. "You alright?"

Annabeth unsheathed the drakon-bone sword from her back pocket. Apparently, even in PJs, bloodthirsty monster killer demigods like Annabeth kept their weapons. Percy wouldn't put it past her, though. After spending who-knows-how-many nights in Tartarus, the evilest, darkest pit in the Underworld, even cuddling fifteen bazookas to sleep like teddy bears wouldn't be deemed insensible. It was certainly horrible there. At least Percy had had Annabeth with him. Nico, the only other demigod Percy knew who had been in Tartarus, had journeyed and escaped from Tartarus – alone.

"I'm fine." Annabeth said, and Percy noticed she had the old, monster-dispatching gleam in her eyes. "Let's go kill some monsters."

* * *

As it turned out, they didn't have to kill _monsters_. Not really.

When they arrived on the upper deck, the harsh spray of water from the sea startled them. Waves of dark, mucky water rose from below and then crashed onto the deck, slowly filling the floor with water. Some water trickled into the below deck. This wasn't a normal storm. There was no lightning or thunder, but tidal waves broke onto the hull of the _Argo II _and Festus groaned and creaked loudly, spilling oil into the sea. Percy tried controlling the water, but to no avail. The water wouldn't listen, as if the sea was already under the control of somebody else. Unhuman screaming and shrieking sounds filled the air.

"What the –" Percy began, but Hazel suddenly flew across the deck and landed with a loud, cracking sound that made Percy flinch. Annabeth rushed towards her friend, and Percy followed behind.

"What happened to her?" Annabeth wondered aloud. Hazel was coughing and spluttering, but very much alive. Percy watched as she coughed up saltwater and moaned in pain and disgust.

Percy said, "She must have swallowed a whole amount of water. Try and get it out. I have to find Jason."

Leaving Annabeth behind with Hazel, his feet splashed onto the layer of water gathering on the deck as he ran, trying to find Jason, Leo, _anybody_.

He vaguely saw an enormous sea serpent that must have been Frank fighting a vaguely humanoid figure. It was hard to make out how Frank was from the ship because of the mist of the water spray clouding his vision.

Skidding across the water some more, he saw Leo soared across the sky, thrown by a fish-like tail. He landed in a loud heap near Hazel, and Percy could only hope Annabeth could see the Hephaestus boy.

He saw Piper, alone and crouched, shivering. Huddled against the mast, she was warming herself with a steaming blueberry muffin that she must have summoned from her Cornucopia. Her Horn of Plenty lay on the floor next to her.

Percy crouched down next to her, his eyes wide with concern. He had never seen the daughter of Aphrodite in such a discomposed position. "Are you alright?"

Piper nodded, her dark, choppy bangs bouncing. Percy's hand hovered over the Horn of Plenty. "Can I take this, for now?"

Piper nodded again.

Swiping it up with a quick motion and tucking it into the same pocket as Riptide, he waved to Piper and left again, feeling guilty for leaving one of his crewmates behind.

That just left Jason.

Where _was _the son of Jupiter? Against the raging waters threatening to push itself down Percy's throat, he ran around wildly, trying not to skid over the uncontrollable water.

Finally, Percy spotted Jason Grace, who was floating on a shield and baring a new sword – apparently Coach Hedge had accidentally let his old one float to the bottom of the sea.

He was putting up a valiant fight against a Nereid – a mermaid-like sea nymph of the sea – which Percy found surprising. Nereids weren't particularly bloodthirsty like their cousins, the sirens. More shockingly, the Nereid was putting up a very valiant fight.

It was baring sharklike teeth and wet, glistening scales. Swimming and diving quickly in and out of the turbulent water, it scratched Jason with sharp claws, and from underneath the shield, upturned it, Jason with it.

"Oi! Jason!" Percy moved in to help, jumping off the ship and into the water. Unlike other times when he was swimming, Percy's clothing immediately felt wetter, and he felt heavier in the sea, as if he could drown…

He mentally slapped himself. Other than the unfortunate event at the Nymphaeum in Rome, he had never been _close _to drowning. He was a son of Poseidon, for gods' sake.

Percy dived into the murky, green water and saw the Nereid. He uncapped Riptide and swiped through the Nereid, which dissolved into dust. After almost six years of killing monsters, he had never felt a twinge of regret about watching monsters being killed either, other than the unfair, possible death of Bob and Demasen. But this wasn't the time for this.

He saw Jason protesting and thrashing in the water, screaming and yelling, letting water into his lungs. Percy, alarmed, swum to the other boy and yanked him up with him. The shrieking – which Percy now recognised as the Nereids – filled his ears again as he emerged into the surface with a panting, spluttering Jason.

Hiking Jason up first onto the _Argo II_, Percy was so exhausted that he slumped down with Jason. Percy didn't know what to do with Jason other than thump him on the back to get the water out.

Suddenly, just as Percy was sure he had thumped the water out of Jason, a new, colder wave of water slammed onto the deck of the _Argo II_, and Percy flinched as another wave rose to crash onto the deck again, but instead, it just remained in the air.

Riding the wave were dozens of snarling, hissing Nereids and in the front of the army of sea nymphs stood – or rather _swirled _– a gigantic, humanoid figure.

Percy, almost blinded by the harshness of the spray of water, forced himself to observe the form of the creature. Starting from its head, Percy saw green, blackish hair like seaweed, damp and flat against its tan head, some tendrils hanging on its broad shoulders. Its bulky, arms were ringed with golden bands and sharp shark teeth bracelets.

On its – _his _– bare chest rose swirling, moving water, rising in swirls around him. For some reason, Percy could not decipher what the colour of the monster's eyes. Many people often told Percy that he had sea green eyes. There was no truth in that statement. The sea was an ever-changing, ever-uncontrollable, never-ceasing thing. It had no colour. The same was with this creature's eyes, and maybe Piper, but she was a different case. The girl could probably change everything about her appearance, if she wanted to, as long as it was a pretty appearance. Percy doubted her mother would let her daughter become ugly. Maybe Piper could make _other _people ugly, so she looked pretty in comparison? Percy couldn't imagine an ugly Annabeth, or a stupid one, or a cowardly one. He _could_ imagine a blue Annabeth. _Yum_, Percy thought. A blue Annabeth.

Percy mentally cursed himself for getting off track.

Worst of all was the creature's waist. A swirling, hulking, huge mass of bubbling, dirty water resonated and exploded around the creature. Its feet – which wore boots the size of boats – and legs were walking underwater. With each step, Percy felt the water push the _Argo II _further and further away from their goal – Athens.

The creature was slow, but deadly. He reached a hand underwater and caught a fistful of water, which seeped through his fingers as he lifted the hand back up. He lobbed the fistful of water at the _Argo II _and the mast cracked and toppled down. Percy forcibly thought of poor Piper.

"Who are you?" Percy yelled, the howling winds carrying away his voice and gripping Riptide and the Cornucopia tightly. His weapons being blown away from his grasp was the last thing he wanted to happen now. This creature held the same arrogance and unpredictability as Tartarus, but Percy didn't want to think about _him _right now.

The creature – which was obviously a god, Percy realised – turned to look at Percy, and made a gurgling, loud sound, which Percy realised was laughter. "The Sea God's Son? A joke, a fool." His Nereids laughed along with him, a harsh, cackling sound not unlike . "I? _I _am the original sea god, the Protegnoi of the Sea. The son of Gaea and the grandfather of the Nereids, I have come to stop seven meddling demigods from disturbing the awakening of my mother. I am Pontus, and _you _are dead."


	2. II: Percy

Author's Note: Enjoy the next chapter! Please feel free to review, favourite or follow the story.

* * *

II

PERCY

* * *

**When Percy was younger,** he was reckless, immature and impulsive, driving Riptide into monsters without a second thought. Now, as he grew up, he was still like that. So, when the Pontus guy said the familiar words, '_you are dead_', Percy shouted, "So, you're grandfather to the Nereids? You look just like them!" Percy sniffed the sea, which was now filled with the smell of rotten fish. "And you smell like them too!"

Pontus's sharp, angled face creased into a frown. His voice was smooth, but it sounded as if sometimes it was calm, and sometimes it was as wild as a storm. "I'm sure you'll find that my son, the father of these creatures, looks much more like them than me. I'm sure you remember him? Though it would be quite hard, seeing as though he possess the uncanny ability to shape shift. Remember him? A god called Nereus?"

Percy vaguely remembered a baggy, large deprecated man that Percy had called 'Santa's evil twin'. Despite his obvious squalor, in Percy's fight to capture the god, he had shape shifted into various marine life, making it hard for him to capture him and ask the one question that Nereus had granted to all those who captured him.

Glancing at the Nereids, Percy saw no resemblance between the vicious, savage-looking mermaid-like creatures and the fat fisherman.

"Yeah, I do, but I don't recall him being as bad as you, Fish-Breath!" Percy yelled, and beside him, Jason groaned, whether of pain or of his friend's idiocy, Percy didn't know.

Pontus didn't strike out like Percy thought he would, but the sea was unpredictable. Percy grew wary. Pontus shrugged, and waves rolled off his bare shoulders and smashed the hull of the ship, Festus groaning.

"I have not had time to clean my mouth in the previous millennia, I admit." Pontus nodded. "Though my grandchildren like fish much more than I do. Isn't that right, Thetis?"

He had directed his question towards one of the snarling Nereids. This one's savagery was less defined, and it was not baring its teeth or claws but instead refusing defiantly to pay any attention to the battle. The Nereid did not answer.

Pontus, obviously annoyed, lifted the Nereid up by its seaweed necklace and threw her across the ocean screaming. Percy saw her soar across the sea miles and miles, and did not hear her land.

"Some followers aren't as supporting as their meant to be, eh?" Pontus said, flicking some water off into the opposite direction, creating a tower of water that touched the sky.

Percy was utterly perplexed. "B-But, that was your _granddaughter_! You possibly killed your granddaughter!"

The Protegnos shrugged. "By now, you should know that the god aren't the most family friendly figures. Like your father, Poseidon. Or Neptune. I can't really tell anymore, with the Olympians' split personalities and such."

Percy gritted his teeth. His father, Poseidon, had not offered a single hand his whole journey from the Second Titan War to now. Yes, Zeus had shut down all mortal contact with Olympus, but Poseidon, who was probably the only other Olympian deity other than Hades who could match Zeus' power, could have easily stalked out of Olympus, or moved to his Atlantic Palace, or _something_. Percy, who had his memories stolen by his least favourite goddess, Hera, or Juno – _whatever_; she was utterly irritating both Greek and Roman – had been chased by seemingly-immortal gorgons, been sent on a quest less than a week at his stay at Camp Jupiter, thrown across the world battling monsters and demons in the _Argo II_, and finally had tumbled into the pit of Tartarus and been left with Annabeth, a kind Titan, a cursed Giant and a skeletal, undead cat to fight their ways to the Doors of Death. Poseidon, Percy thought, was definitely not winning this year's Best Father award.

"Okay, fine. My dad's a jerk." Percy could almost hear an earthquake nearby in protest of Percy's judgement. "That has nothing to do with you."

Pontus tilted his head. "Why, it has everything to do with me. In fact, I am Poseidon's uncle, technically."

Percy, who didn't like getting into godly familial semantics, growled and held Riptide in front of him threateningly. "I don't like talking. Why don't we fight?"

The Protegnos spread his arms out and smiled, whirlpools of water slamming onto the _Argo II_. "Yes, who don't we? Fight, my grandchildren, and I may allow you to feed on these demigod bones. I have heard they are as delicious as fish, no?"

Immediately, all the Nereids stopped hissing and snarling, and turned to look at Percy and Jason with renewed interest. Percy never noticed how sharp and scary shark teeth were, but it was probably due to him being the son of the Sea God. Marine creatures tended to get along with Percy more than usual. Not these ones though. The Nereids bared long, filed nails from their scaly hands and whipped their mermaid tails. In unison, all of them – at least fifty – jumped from the wave that had kept them afloat and onto the _Argo II_.

Jason picked up a shield, his half-blood instincts kicking in, and he charged at the fifty or so sea nymphs and struck as many as he could with the sharp end of it.

Percy, however, stayed still and watched the several dozen Nereids who Jason was not attending to. They were actually destroying the boat.

With their claws and teeth, they struck, bit, clawed, scratched, slammed, crashed, bashed, beat and hit every surface they saw. Though they had awkward movement on land with their fish tails and everything, they still were vicious killing machines.

Percy watched as the _Argo II _filled with water from every cackle Pontus made, broke with every strike every Nereid made and slowly sunk lower and lower.

He couldn't let this happen, couldn't let this monstrosity unfold before him. He couldn't just let Leo's pride and joy become destroyed.

Though the fate of the _Argo II _was undecided, Percy could see the tide was turning – no pun intended. The Nereids were dissolving and shrieking louder than harpies as Jason drew his shield through them, and Nereids flailed and hopped away as Festus blew fire onto their tails.

Still, his friends needed help. He didn't know what Annabeth was doing, alone with Hazel and Leo, and Piper who was just _alone_, or where the sea serpent that should've been Frank was. Yelling an unintelligible battle cry, he leaped from his frail position and swiped Riptide through the nearest Nereid, which was biting the floor off.

Percy leaped and stabbed another Nereid.

And it went on like this: stab, dodge, hit, smash, strike, roll, kick and duck. Percy found Jason, and together they worked fluidly – no pun intended here either – striking and smashing, dodging and ducking. Pontus slowly faltered his laughing and water stopped chopping onto the _Argo II_, which was worse for wear.

Everywhere, there were bite marks and scratches and dents and cuts. Festus was creaking and groaning and spilling oil. Waves of water where spilling into the below deck, which was probably already flooding.

Still, they had yet to finish fighting. Thirty sea nymphs still remained, not dispatched. They were tired and battered from battling, but they flailed and hopped with vigour.

Percy, irritated, summoned his last amount of physical energy and yanked the sea out of Pontus's hands and directed it in the direction of the Nereids. Yelling and shrieking, they washed out to sea, screaming and flailing.

Percy knew they'd be back, but he was slightly elated nonetheless. Slumping into Jason's electric, stoic arms – as if the other boy had worn a lightning gauntlet or something. Percy wanted to sleep so badly, but he had to continue fighting the evil, fish-breath Pontus.

Jason helped Percy up, and together, they glared at Pontus, who was looking terribly angry. Shaking with rage, pools of water rammed the _Argo II_ but they were weaker, as if Pontus's powers were exhausted.

No such luck.

With so much anger and rage, the seas swirled louder and the sea nymphs tried to swim against the enormous tide Pontus was creating. His voice was clearer, louder and less accented. _You demigods have pushed me past the limit. You shall die under the pressure of water. A fitting end to a reckless son of the Sea God. I think –_

But Percy never found out what the Protegnos thought. Cutting Pontus's speech was an enormous, scaly sea serpent with glistening skin and shiny teeth. It had emerged from the sea, creating a gigantic ripple in the water.

Frank rammed his head into Pontus, and the Protegnos dissolved into water. Frank swam like a snake towards the boat, and then changed back into his human form, collapsing in a heap on the deck.

Percy had barely enough time to examine his friend's ruined appearance – bulky, strong shoulders and arms befitting of an archer and damp, black hair – before the water reformed again.

The same upper body had reformed, but there was no under body, as if the sea _was_ the under body. It splashed and waved and swirled. Pontus, not feeling as chatty as before, splayed his hands out and from in front of the ship, thirty sea nymphs jumped into the air, striking at the three boys.

Percy and Jason moved Frank quickly as Percy racked his brains. He didn't have any instinctive strategy like Annabeth, but he had learned enough from her. The '_keep talking_' technique was out of the question, what with the foes about to kill him and his friends, so he would just have to use the '_distraction_'. What would distract the nymphs so much they would avert their eyes from Percy and his friends.

And Percy remembered. He scrambled for the Cornucopia and aimed Piper's Horn of Plenty. Piper had taught nobody how to use her Horn of Plenty, so Percy just thought the distraction in his mind, again and again: _fish, fish, fish, fish, fish_.

A barrage of fresh, smelly tuna erupted from the Horn of Plenty, and the Nereids, smelling their food suddenly jumped away from Percy and Jason and Frank and leaped into the ocean, swimming after the fish that had been shot miles away. Maybe Thetis would smell and eat one.

Abruptly, Pontus yelled in rage and tidal waves rose and smashed into the _Argo II_, sending it flying away from the Ionian. Water blackened Percy's vision, and he felt his heart stop beating.


	3. III: Percy

III

PERCY

**Demigod dreams were never fun.**

Percy dreamt he was standing the summit of a mountain, winds howling and his black hair whipping. Against the strong rush of winds and the mist, he squinted his eyes and in the distance, saw a vague shape. Percy neared it, and saw a horrifying sight.

There stood eleven Gigantes – Percy noticed Demasen wasn't here with a pang of disappointment and a twinge of pride for not conforming like his brothers – Gaea's giants, huddled in a team circle. All were different in size and shape, and all of them looked awkward and uncomfortable together: Alcyoneus, whom Percy had fought and defeated, was standing over forty feet tall, with metallic gold skin and rusty, dragon coppery legs, covered with silvery armour and his red hair was braided with jewels and gems. Percy gritted his teeth at the thought of him, whom he had defeated, and whom Percy did not want to see alive. Surprisingly, he was out of his territory, and Percy was itching to dispatch him again and spill his oil blood.

Next to Alcyoneus stood the twins, Ephialtes and Otis, both looking very uncomfortable at standing next to Alcyoneus, him being four times their height. Otis – completely humanoid but with scaly green legs and coins braided into his green hair – looked ridiculously sparkly, wearing clothing from the distant Disco Age, which looked odd together with the ten-foot tall spear strapped to his back. Ephialtes looked exactly the same, except for his purple hair.

Across in the circle stood one of Percy's least favourite giants – although Percy admittedly didn't like any giants at all other than Demasen. Polybotes, thirty feet tall, stood proudly on his reptilian legs, his bluish armour swirling with the face of monsters. His humanoid face was wreathed with basilisks hanging and hissing.

Along with them stood seven other giants Percy had never seen, nor wanted to see. They were an odd assortment of height, colour and intimidation, but they were much taller than Percy and he had to walk through Otis to get into the middle of the team huddle. All the giants were talking grimly, but mildly.

"What will we do about the demigod problem, Porphyrion?" A bulky, hulking giant with a grim face asked, polishing the tip of his spear with his skirt.

An intelligent-looking giant with a badly crafted crown hanging on his head smirked and said, "We will do nothing. The demigods are no threat to us. Pontus was _meant _to take care of them," the giant called Porphyrion scowled. "But, no matter. Their ridiculous vessel is destroyed. They have no means of transport anymore."

Otis frowned. "But where are they?"

"You will speak when you are spoken to, Otis!" Porphyrion snapped. "I heard you and your brother lost against a pinecone in Rome. _A pinecone_."

The other giants laughed loudly at Otis and his brother's expense, and Percy wondered forcibly if this was how dinner played out at the dining table in Olympus. Ephialtes grimaced, and Otis merely whimpered, "The pinecone was _scary_."

Porphyrion waved Otis's remark away, and clapped his hands. A loud sound of thunder resonated through the mountain, dispersing the mist. The other giants suddenly stopped muttering and laughing amongst themselves.

"So!" Porphyrion said. "How do we deal with the prophecy problem?"

Ephialtes frowned in confusion. "What prophecy problem?"

Porphyrion sighed loudly as the other giants chuckled loudly at Ephialtes.

"It is not my fault you are not properly informed!" Porphyrion yelled, silencing all laughter. "Ephialtes, to refresh your memory, as you know, our giant brothers Hippolytus and Mimas arrived in Phthiotis and captured the Oracle of Theia in her sacred precinct on Mother Gaea's orders." The sturdy, large one who had asked about the 'demigod problem' and an oddly handsome giant raised a hand and the other giants applauded and cheered.

"And, as you know," Porphyrion uttered above the noise. "Oracles are very difficult to find. There are only four spirits of the Oracle, and they are scattered across the globe. Phthiotis was closest."

The odd giant nodded. "The Oracle put up a real good fight. Spewing green smoke and everything."

Porphyrion inclined his head. "Yes, and eventually, we made the Oracle talk. It started off saying the original, stupid Prophecy of Seven, but instead, it continued for another four lines. What was the rest it said?"

Mimas, the handsome giant, stuttered. "I – I really shouldn't say –"

Hippolytus, the fat one, interrupted irately. "Oh, for Gaea's sake, he doesn't even know. It follows on like this:

_The Sky will escape from the chains far below._

_The demigods' choice: is he friend or foe?_

_An old friend renewed, ripped from its jail_

_The half-bloods together, shall they lose or prevail?_"

Hippolytus finished gruffly, and he crossed his arms as his fellow giants animatedly discussed the prophecy. Percy rapped his mind for any meaning in this new, unfamiliar prophecy. The sky, _below_? And how is it _the demigods' _choice if somebody is a friend or foe? An old friend? Percy had several, but he could recall none that had been in jail. And the last sentence was clear: would they win or lose?

Porphyrion stopped the silence abruptly, his arms wide and his eyes large with alarm. "Cease talking, brothers. I sense an unkind presence listening in…"

And Percy woke up.

* * *

When Percy awoke, he felt himself hurtling towards the ground. Screaming, he hurriedly observed his surroundings. He seemed to be in a sort of palace with no ceiling, just hundreds and hundreds of feet of the silvery, blurry substance that made the walls. There were windows placed in intervals, and as Percy fell he thought the fall would never end, like in Tartarus.

"Oh, one of you woke up." A voice said, carried through the winds. "_Finally_."

Percy heard a snap, and his hurtling became a slow and airless floating, as if gravity didn't exist. Looking up, he saw only a mass of clouds. Looking down, he saw the same. It was as if he was in the middle of a tower, shaped the same every interval, with no bottom and no top.

As he floated down, he saw the still, sleeping figure of Hazel Levesque, soundlessly slumbering and lying down in midair, as if sleeping on a cushion of wind. He tried to swim the air up to her, but he didn't have any need. A sudden, kind wind propelled him towards his friend. When he reached her, he cradled her.

"She won't wake, you see." A figure appeared in front of Percy. He was a winged, smiling man, no older than twenty-five. Bizarrely, he was holding an inverted vase, water spilling from its rim. He looked sad, but kind enough to probably – _probably _– not be a monster. Percy wasn't in the mood for killing monsters anyway. He needed to stay close to Hazel, and find his other friends. The figure spoke in a distant, warm voice, as if a parent, or a close friend wasn't close enough to speak to you. "She won't wake until she wants to."

"Can – can you make her wake up?" Percy asked, not taking his eyes off Hazel. There was something odd about her, and then Percy realised. She was _fine_. Unlike the last time he had seen her, she was wound-free, scar-less and clothed in fresh, new, silky traditional Greek clothing. Percy glanced at a window, and saw the vague reflection of him – he was cured of any wetness or hypothermia from the cold sea from last time, and he was wearing new, white clothing that felt silky and smooth.

"Sadly, no." The figure floated towards Percy. "That would be against my principles. I am Eurus, the East Wind, and it is my godly duties are to house the unlucky, warm them and rain them with water."

Percy glanced at Eurus. "Percy Jackson. Demigod."

Eurus nodded sadly. "Yes, I know who you are. Talk of Italy, you are."

"Are my friends okay?" Percy inquired aloud.

Eurus nodded. "They're fine."

"What about the _Argo II_?"

"Not so much."

There was a long pause, before Percy said: "Could you, maybe," Percy glanced at Hazel. "I don't know. Show me my friends so I know they're okay?"

Eurus bowed his head. "Yes." He clapped his hands softly and gently, gradually his five other friends appeared in front of him."

Annabeth, with her blonde, straight hair tangled at her sides and her stormy grey eyes closed floated down in front of Percy, along with sleeping Frank, who was dried of any wetness and whose muscles that had been blessed to him were bulging in his white shirt. Up from the non-existent bottom floated semi-conscious Piper, her choppy, uneven hair on her shoulders and Percy was glad to see that even if he had left her alone, she was doing all right; Jason floated up next to her, his blond hair shining and his mouth in a grin so wide – so wide, that the scar from trying to eat a stapler was almost invisible – that Percy knew he was dreaming about spending time with Piper; and finally Leo, who was always tapping his fingers, even in his sleep, his curly brown hair even curlier against his brown skin.

Percy was glad to see all his friends alive and well, and Percy wanted to awake them so badly, but he didn't, because he thought about it for a change. They seemed to be having awesome dreams – unlike Percy – and if he woke them up, he'd be literally inviting them into a worst place than sleep. Sometimes, sleep was good.

He would have to tell his friends about the ruined _Argo II _later, and about his dream and the extended prophecy, but for now, Percy just slept.


	4. IV: Annabeth

Author's Note: This chapter was more filler than really actually moving the story forwards. I hope you guys enjoy it though, and thanks to the followers, favourites and my one reviewer!

* * *

IV

ANNABETH

* * *

**Annabeth promised herself to never eat seafood again.** Yes, she had promised herself the same thing a few weeks ago when a scolopendra had attacked the _Argo II_, but now, the rotten fish smell of the Nereids had left a lasting impression on her nose.

When she woke up she was in a cylindrical tower, with no floor and no ceiling. Smoke and mist drifted around thickly. She heard a clamour of voices, and Percy's head loomed over her and gave her a kiss on her forehead. She felt silly and giddy at the same time as one by one, the rest of the crew muttered something about her waking up.

An unfamiliar voice said, "Oh, the last one's awake already? Let us use wind travel then."

There was a snap, and Annabeth felt her insides turn to nothing. She was suddenly whirling around the place, and was dropped from the air onto a clear meadow somewhere, her friends all startled and lying down around her. She groaned. Wind travel was not a very comfortable form of transport.

"Where – where are we?" Annabeth yawned, and she sat down next to Percy.

Percy clasped her hand and grinned, his black hair whipping in the wind. "I don't actually know at all."

Annabeth smiled back. "Figures."

A winged man with a sad face and a vase spilling water flew to Annabeth. "Would you like to drink some water? Sadly, I don't have any food to give to you."

Annabeth stared at him. "Are you – are you Eurus, the East Wind?" Annabeth prided herself over her knowledge of Greek myths and mythological figures. Percy prided himself on killing them all.

Eurus nodded gravely. "Yes, I am."

From the other side, Jason frowned and moved towards them. "What, isn't he Vulturnus?"

The wind god twitched and his white _chiton _was gone and was replaced by a purple toga, and a spear that seemed to draw winds towards it replaced the vase spilling water. Eurus – or rather Vulturnus – had closely-cropped blond hair instead of a shaggy hairstyle and he was now Roman.

Quickly, he reverted back to his old form, twitching. "Please, Mr Grace, do not use that name in my presence. It fuels…discomfort."

He asked the question about the water, and Annabeth gladly accepted a chug of water from the vase. When the food problem arose, Percy pulled out Piper's Cornucopia from his pocket. Annabeth was suspicious, but dropped the matter.

Percy shot out a lot of blue food on his jacket, which they used as a picnic blanket. Jason asked about the blue food, and they were suddenly in a deep, thought-out conversation about colours.

_Boys_, Annabeth thought.

With Piper and Hazel chattering nonstop about something, she moved to talk with Leo as she munched on a blue cookie. Leo was pleading with Eurus, and Annabeth moved close enough to hear the conversation, but far enough so that Leo wouldn't notice her.

"…I need to know! I'm the captain of the ship, and one of my best friends, Festus, is on it! Tell me if it's all right!"

Eurus sniffed and said, "No, it's not all right. It is completely destroyed."

Leo made a noise like a dying giraffe.

"Could I –" Leo began, but Eurus interrupted.

He made a face. "Could you see it? No. I blew the remains of the blasted ship away to the god's junkyard. It is most probably being burnt now."

"But, for your best friend, I assume you're talking about the dragonhead?" Eurus asked.

"_Yes_!" Leo was excited now. "Do you know where it is?"

Eurus looked as if could have smiled. "I have him now." He clapped gently and Festus the dragonhead materialised in the air. Leo jumped at it and hugged it tightly, crying and muttering empathetic words to the dragon, which creaked and groaned.

Eurus looked up at Annabeth and winked, and she, embarrassed at being found eavesdropping, moved to the picnic blanket and clapped her hands loudly.

Everybody turned to look at her. "We _need _to have a discussion about last night, what went wrong and what we will do next."

There was murmured assent, and soon everybody but Eurus – who was hovering over Annabeth – was sitting, cross-legged in a circle.

Percy, of course, started the conversation. "_What the heck _happened last night?"

Leo shrugged, still cradling Festus. "I was manning the ship, and then suddenly some mermaid grabbed me and threw me into the water. Then, my best buddy Frank yanked me up and threw me full-speed onto the ship." Leo glared at Frank, and he held his hands out in a conciliatory gesture, grinning sheepishly.

Hazel, her eyes to the sky, said, "_I _heard the noise when I was below deck, so I came up and suddenly an enormous ball of water hit me, and I blacked out. That's the last I remember."

"I was the first on deck." Frank wrung his hands. "I heard the tides of water, and I tried calming them down as a sea serpent, but Pontus got to me and he hauled me underwater for at least ten minutes. When I came back to the surface, Percy and Jason were already fighting it out with some Nereids."

"Okay…" Percy said. He pointed at Piper. "What about you?"

Piper looked guilty. "I tried to Charmspeak the Nereids, but I guess they couldn't hear me over the noise. Pontus blasted me with a wave, and I kind of remember giving Percy my Cornucopia. Then, I just chilled out alone. Like literally _chilled _out. It was _so _cold."

Jason sniffled. "I – I was already on deck when Pontus just burst out of the water with his Nereids and bombarded the boat with the seawater. I wanted to go rouse Percy up so he could help…but I guess Pontus was already controlling the seas against you. Though you _did _bust out some awesome fish technique with Piper's Cornucopia."

Percy grinned. "What happened to you, Annabeth?"

"I – I kind of took care of Hazel and Leo, until, you know, I blacked out."

Annabeth cursed herself mentally for not being stronger. She had blacked out when her friends needed her the most. Hazel's heart had been faltering, and Leo was practically dying, and what was this about Piper being alone? Dang it, Annabeth should've tried to find her. Annabeth wanted to cry out of frustration, but she couldn't. She couldn't cry in front of her friends, who were expecting her to be strong.

"So basically," Annabeth said. "Pontus emerged from the water, proclaiming it was stopping our path and everything, right?"

"Yup." Percy said.

"So we can't take the sea." Annabeth said grimly.

Leo snapped, "Well, of course we can't take the sea! The _Argo II_…it's destroyed!"

It hurt Annabeth to see Leo like this – temperamental, angry and frustrated, just as Annabeth felt – and the others obviously felt the same. Hazel even reprimanded loudly, "_Leo_! Don't shout at Annabeth."

Leo grumbled but nevertheless stopped talking.

"And we can't take land. And we can't take the sky, because Jason can't carry all of us to Athens quick enough."

Jason nodded vigorously in agreement.

"By the way," Hazel said. "Where are we?"

Eurus grimaced. "You are in Lecce."

His answer was met with blank looks. "_Where_?" Annabeth asked. She had never heard of any place in Greece called Lecce…in _Greece_. "We're in Italy?"

The wind god smiled apologetically. "Yes, you are in southern Italy. Pontus must have been very angry with you. He sent you back all the way to a different country."

Annabeth groaned. "We'll never get to Athens in time, then."

The wind god smiled again. "Not necessarily. If you can convince Aeolus to harness the winds in your favour, you may reach there in time."

Jason was suddenly alert. "Aeolus? The master of the winds? I thought he wasn't even on this continent. He's in America, isn't he?"

Eurus let out a sharp, short bark of laughter. "He is the master of all winds. Not a god, just a mortal rewarded by his good deeds and turned immortal. He changes the location of his palace much. He is a fickle person. You have met him?"

"Yeah!" Leo said enthusiastically. "The Ken Doll guy. Except halfway melted."

Jason laughed. "Yeah, that guy. So we could visit him?'

Eurus thought for many moments, every beat of his winds creating wind and blowing things behind him. "You could, but the wind master is very fickle. He would change his mind at the very last moment, or forget something he has been indebted to his whole life. He is neither manipulative nor unkind, but he changes very quickly and very often. I would not suggest seeking audience with him on a usual occasion, but now, you seem to be in great need of transport and advice. I think it would be wise to visit Aeolia, his free-floating palace."

Annabeth nodded. Jason, Piper and Leo had told her fragmented parts about the quest they had done to save Hera – with Leo exaggerating many parts of the story – and Annabeth had understood from them that Aeolus had been a very irritating, fickle god that changed his opinion more than once. Annabeth had no hope that they could somehow convince the wind master to both help them transport themselves, and to make him talk about any news that could help Annabeth and the crew.

"So, when do we go?" she directed the question at the East wind, who shrugged his shoulders and released a wave of wind that nearly knocked Annabeth out.

"I have no qualms about going now." Eurus balanced the patterned, Greek-style vase on his palm, but water continued spilling from its rim.

Annabeth shrugged. "Great!"

"What could go wrong?" Frank murmured absent-mindedly, and Annabeth, from many years of experience knew to never say that phrase. She could almost hear the hundreds of monsters listening in and cackling at the bulky son of Mars's incorrect choice of words.

Eurus clapped his hands, and Annabeth dissolved into air.


End file.
